Niwot makes a splash at State

A pair of exciting top-three finishes in the last four events catapulted the Niwot girls swim team past cross-town rival Silver Creek and into fifth place at the Class 4A State Championship finals at the VMAC Feb. 10. Sophomore Abby Shaw bested her preliminary time by more than half a second to take second in the 100 backstroke right after freshman Emiley Yie led the eighth-seeded 200 freestyle relay team to a surprise third-place finish in the dramatic final. Niwot ended the day with top-ten swims in six events, and scored 138 total team points.

“The girls swam so fast and so hard yesterday, and got us seeded where we needed to be,” head coach Sarah Stamp said. “And they brought their A-game today.”

That was unquestionably the case for Niwot’s top-three swimmers—Shaw, Yie, and sophomore Payten Irwin. In addition to her silver in the 100 backstroke, Shaw took sixth in the 200 freestyle, with a time of 1 minute and 57.61 seconds. She was also on the fifth-place 400 freestyle relay team, with Irwin, Yie and junior Hanna Luo, and part of the 13th-place 200 medley team, with freshmen Lucca Fulkerson and Natalie Sesselmann, and junior Kristi Vu.

“I’m really, really pleased with [my backstroke performance],” Shaw said. “That felt like a really good swim. Going into it I knew I had really strong competition.”

Irwin also came away with a pair of top-ten swims on the day; in the 100 butterfly, where her 56.72 was good for fourth overall, and in the 50 freestyle, where she finished ninth (24.48). She was also the third leg on the 200 freestyle relay team, which shaved nearly three seconds off of its preliminary time (1:38.28 from 1:41.11) to come away with an unexpected third-place medal.

“We were hoping we could knock off one team, but certainly not third in state,” Stamp said. “They swam out of their minds for that relay.”

Yie capped her breakout freshman year with 11th-place finishes in the 200 freestyle (1:57.53), where she was the only ninth-grader to make it to the finals, and in the 500 freestyle (5:24.21.). She also swam anchor in the 200 freestyle relay, and extended Niwot’s slim lead over Silver Creek on the final lap. She later swam second on the 400 freestyle relay.

Elsewhere, junior Vu was 15th in the 50 freestyle (25.19), and junior Claire Jepson was 15th in the backstroke (1:02.43.).

Stamp admitted that her team’s success at State helped offset the disappointment of losing to Silver Creek in both the All-City and Conference meets this year.

“We didn’t pull down at conference at all with the girls that were swimming today, and it was a little hard for them to swallow the pill that they were getting beat in events at conference that they don’t normally,” she said. “But this is the ultimate prize, and the ultimate payoff is second at State, third at State, and fifth overall.”

Though it’s a bit early to look ahead, Stamp said it’s hard not to be optimistic about Niwot’s State title prospects in the coming years. Nearly all of the team’s fastest swimmers are underclassmen, and they will lose just one state qualifier to graduation. They are also likely to have competitive divers for the entire year next season.

Her sophomore backstoke-star agreed.

“I’m super super excited for next year, and the years to come.” Shaw said. “It’s really exciting.”

Feb. 9-10 — Class 4A State Swimming Championships, Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center, Thornton

Team scores — Rampart 251, Cheyenne Mountain 223, Valor Christian 212, Heritage 194, Niwot 138, Loveland 132, Mullen 132, Highlands Ranch 132, Silver Creek 131.5, Evergreen 126, Fort Collins 107, Windsor 91.5, Air Academy 75, George Washington 72, Greeley West 57, Thompson Valley 49, Pueblo South 39, Liberty 36, Pine Creek 36, Coronado 24, Ponderosa 18, Denver South 14, Littleton 10, Standley Lake 7, Grand Junction 6, Pueblo West 5, Wheat Ridge 2, Golden 2, Fruita Monument 2, Mesa Ridge

200 medley relay — 1. Rampart (Clarke, Chen, Clarke, Immel), 1:42.86; 2. Mullen, 1:48.35; 3. Loveland, 1:49.62; 13. Niwot (Shaw, Sesselmann, Fulkerson, K. Vu), 1:55.45.

200 freestyle — 1. Kylie Andrews, Heritage, 1:49.65; 2. Lainee Jones, Pueblo South, 1:50.17; 3. Erin Lang, Loveland, 1:52.40; 6. Abby Shaw, Niwot, 1:57.61; 11. Emiley Yie, Niwot, 1:57.53.

50 freestyle — 1. Anna Shaw, Heritage, 23.54; 2. Aimee Burton, Highlands Ranch, 24.02; 3. Sofia Zinis, Mullen, 24.03; 9. Payten Irwin, Niwot, 24.48; 15. Kristi Vu, Niwot, 25.19;

100 butterfly — 1. Audrey Reimer, Fort Collins, 54.21; 2. Cat Wright, Cheyenne Mountain, 55.01; 3. Allana Clarke, Rampart, 56.19; 4. Payten Irwin, Niwot, 56.72;

500 freestyle — 1. Erin Lang, Loveland, 5:02.25; 2. Josie Carpenter, Greeley West, 5:07.12; 3. Clare Sanderson, Cheyenne Mountain, 5:07.99; 11. Emiley Yie, Niwot, 5:24.21.

200 free relay — 1. Valor Christian (L. Stenstrom, A. Stenstrom, Hoehn, Kirschke), 1:35.90; 2. Heritage, 1:36.68; 3. Niwot (Luo, K. Vu, Irwin, Yie), 1:38.28;

100 backstroke — 1. Audrey Reimer, Fort Collins, 54.22; 2. Abby Shaw, Niwot, 57.24; 3. Catriona Clarke, Rampart, 57.84; 15. Claire Jepson, Niwot, 1:02.43.

400 free relay — 1. Valor Christian (L. Stenstrom, A. Stenstrom, Hoehn, Kirschke), 3:28.05; 2. Rampart, 3:28.60; 3. Heritage, 3:33.59; 5. Niwot (Luo, Yie, Irwin, Shaw) 3:35.68